


68 Hours

by leiascully



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Missing Scene, X-Files OctoberFicFest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-29 08:12:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8482051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiascully/pseuds/leiascully
Summary: In less than a day, they'd become a family.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: post-S8  
> A/N: From a tumblr prompt.  
> Disclaimer: _The X-Files_ and all related characters are the property of Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and Fox Studios. No profit is made from this work and no infringement is intended.

God, it felt so natural to wake up in his arms. Not that they did much sleeping, of course, and not for the reasons she would have wanted, before. Will needed feeding and Mulder got up with her every time, brought her water, took Will and held him when she needed to pee. Her labor and birth had been traumatic, nothing she wanted to write up for a birth story, but this was sweet bliss, despite the sleeplessness, despite the pain from all that her body had endured and continued to endure. 

In less than a day, they’d become a family. She and Mulder had been together so long, but not like this. Losing him had been the same thing as losing her right arm and half of her heart. Now that she had him back, and they had William, she was so happy she wanted to weep. 

“I’m sorry,” she said to Mulder as the tears rolled down her face.

“It’s all right,” he said, gently dabbing her cheeks with a tissue as Will nursed. “You’re just going through a leaky phase.”

She laughed, surprised and not at all surprised that he was still making jokes. Mulder had quipped his way through hell and high water; she wouldn’t have wanted him to change. He was right, though. Everything welled up in her, loved and exhaustion and sorrow and sunlit joy so close to the surface she couldn’t help crying. Everything about her was tender.

She had never given up on a miracle, and she’d gotten William, and Mulder, and this incredible little family that was more than the sum of them. She hadn’t known it could be so good or so easy. They worked with and around each other to take care of Will as if they’d been dealing with an infant for years already. She was just so unspeakably grateful to the universe for this gift from God. It was beyond what she’d ever hoped for, or anything she could have imagined. It was the Rapture, her own private heaven.

They didn’t have to cook - her mother and her mother’s friends and Monica had brought over enough food for a small army - but Mulder played chef anyway, warming things up and plating them, bringing them to her. The whole weekend, they moved between the couch, the bed, and the table. Even when Will cried, it was perfect. Even as they changed diapers together, it was perfect. Even as she knew it would end, it was perfect.

She’d managed a shower and a fresh set of pajamas. Mulder, to his credit, had raised an eyebrow at the mesh underwear she’d gotten from the hospital after they’d finally gotten William checked out, but he hadn’t said anything. While she swaddled Will and put him to bed, Mulder sorted through soiled onesies and spit up cloths and all the rest of the baby laundry. Will, clean and full, fussed for a few minutes and then fell asleep as she watched him.

“Sleep when the baby sleeps,” Mulder reminded her.

“I love this,” she said as she got into bed. “I didn’t know that I would love it this much.”

“I love it too,” Mulder told her, sliding in next to her under the covers. “You, me, William - it feels right, Scully. I didn’t know this was what I wanted.”

“I wish you could stay,” she said.

“One day we’ll all be together forever,” he promised. “I’ll find a way.”

“We made this,” she said sleepily. “This perfect amazing thing. This perfect amazing child.”

“We did,” he said, and put his arms around her. “Our miracle.”

It wasn’t anywhere near Christmas, but she kept thinking of that line from the song - through the years, we all will be together, if the fates allow. She shifted in his arms, trying to find the most comfortable position for her still-aching body.

“We’ve never let them stop us yet,” she yawned.

“And we never will,” Mulder said. She turned her face to kiss him, easy as breathing, and he kissed her back with gentle wonder.

“I love you,” she said, and fell asleep before she could hear him say it back, sweet words that lit up the darkness. In the other room, their impossible child slept, and maybe dreamed, and they would live happily ever after, for a while.


End file.
